Nomenclature of North American 
Birds, Elliott Couest 
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250. Sayornis sayi (Bp.) Bd. I see neither reason nor precedent for 
naming a species after a person in the way Bonaparte did in this case, — 
making an adjective out of the person’s name, yet without any adjectival 
termination. Sayus or snius would be a Latinization of Mr. Say’s name, 
as a substantive, and its genitive would be sayi or sail. If we wish to use 
an adjectival form, it should be sayana or saiana. 
There is a good deal to be said about this matter of Latinizing proper 
names and getting at a satisfactory genitive case. For. example, it is the 
rule to simply add -us, genitive -i, when the name ends with a consonant ; 
as, bairdi, cassini. When the word ends with a vowel, the rule is to change 
that vowel into i and add -us ; as, lawrencii, bonapartii. But y is both 
vowel and consonant. It is true we have the custom of raii, derbianus, 
from Ray and Lord Derby ; and this would give us sail, or saiana, in the 
present case. But it seems better to treat the final y as consonantal ; 
suclcleyi seems more sensible than suekleii. 
Some curious cases come up occasionally. Would Mr. Ridgway, for 
example, recognize himself in ridgwaii or ridgvaii ? What is the genitive 
of Boie’s name in Latin? According to the first rule above mentioned it 
would be Boiii ! And how 1 about a name already Latin in form, — that 
is, are we to write blasii, or blasiusi, — xanti, or xantusi ? 
Bull. N. O.O, 5, April, 1880, R »99 
